Health Update

Though fatty liver is commonly seen among heavy alcoholics and in patients with chronic viral hepatitis, its presence in diabetics, in patients with high cholesterol and triglycerides, and in overweight or obese individuals – adults and kids alike – makes it a growing concern of the new millennium. What is needed alarming is that, according to Dr. Joel Lavine, University of California, San Diego, fatty liver has been found in obese children as young as three years old and its complication of cirrhosis as young as age seven.

Excessive alcohol intake of more than three bottles of beer, one shot of whiskey, or 100cc of wine daily may lead to fatty liver. Prolonged alcohol intake may then cause liver inflammation and later cirrhosis. If the fatty liver is not associated with alcohol intake, it is called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. (more…)